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True, although I remember one case I did translations for, as Honeywell who designed one of the inflight instruments had their European HQ in Barcelona so the trial happened there. The Russian crew of one of the planes involved (the Überlingen collision) had been trained in a hierarchical, military system to follow human orders over the instructions of automated instruments, and the (overworked, understaffed, privately outsourced...) ATC got it wrong, so they turned their plane into the other one, when the onboard system was in fact giving them the right info.

But for every such story there is a counter-example, I'm sure.

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Matthew Clapham
Matthew Clapham

Written by Matthew Clapham

Professional translator by day. Writer of silly and serious stuff by night. Also by day, when I get fed up of tedious translations. Founder of Iberospherical.

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